Your Health & Safety in Group Fitness Classes

I don’t know about you, but here in Chicago, while in the midst of a pandemic, we advanced to phase 4 re-opening so quickly and for me it's a little unnerving.

My biggest concern is keeping my children safe. We've remained at home since the middle of March. We didn't hang with our friends, instead we followed the stay-at-home rules. I don't take my children's health lightly. I kept my children and myself safe from exposure to COVID-19 for the last three months, and I'm not prepared to run back out into the streets like it isn’t still prevalent.

At what point do you make a decision to say, "No thanks" when your gut tells you to pause and think about the decision you’re about to make?

I don’t go anywhere without a mask and teaching yoga with it to a group of students also wearing masks doesn’t seem like it makes much sense to me.

So the larger question is.... who am I teaching for? Why am I teaching yoga and movement?

I've always been an educator first. My goal in teaching has always been to teach students how to move; to feel what's going on in their bodies; to offer options and to assist them in diving into the experience. But that becomes more difficult when we're restrained by masks, or we have to space out by 6 feet and I have to remain at the front, or if class is outside but students can't hear me because of traffic. To be clear, I love outdoor classes but the conditions have to be right.

I've wondered...

• Am I teaching so that I can jump straight back into the crazy, insanely busy life I had and make money for studios that don’t pay my worth to begin with?
• Am I teaching to students who’ve not followed safety precautions as much as I would like?
• Am I teaching in-person bc I’ve believed that was my only option?

Time for some contemplation and tough decisions, I suppose.

I speak to students who are at both ends of the spectrum. Some who are desperate to keep their parents safe and aren’t interested in returning to studios. And others who can’t wait to get out of the house and join in on the social aspect of in-person group classes.

Surely, there are some students who aren't tech savvy and some who need the encouragement of people around them to keep going. Additionally, students who want teachers to be able to see them and offer hands-on assists. Since touching is not allowed at this point, how will that change your practice? I'm not a super hands-on teacher, because I feel like it interferes with the students' experience. Do you come to class with the intention to be touched? And if so, will you feel satisfied if you aren't adjusted?

Where are you on this scale?

How are you feeling about getting out and taking group exercise classes?

Would you be completely honest about how you’re feeling / who you’ve been exposed to if you really, really just want to take a public class?

I’m so curious as to what more ppl are thinking and where you are on the spectrum.